This invention relates to thermal-insulating coatings for components exposed to high temperatures, such as the hostile thermal environment of a gas turbine engine. More particularly, this invention is directed to a method of stabilizing the microstructure of a thermal barrier coating (TBC) through the co-deposition of elemental carbon to produce additional fine stable porosity in the TBC, leading to lower thermal conductivity and greater resistance to degradation of insulating properties during high temperature excursions.
Higher operating temperatures for gas turbine engines are continuously sought in order to increase their efficiency. However, as operating temperatures increase, the high temperature durability of the components within the hot gas path of the engine must correspondingly increase. Significant advances in high temperature capabilities have been achieved through the formulation of nickel and cobalt-base superalloys. Nonetheless, when used to form components of the turbine, combustor and augmentor sections of a gas turbine engine, such alloys alone are often susceptible to damage by oxidation and hot corrosion attack, and as a result may not retain adequate mechanical properties. For this reason, these components are often protected by a thermal barrier coating (TBC) system. TBC systems typically include an environmentally-protective bond coat and a thermal-insulating ceramic topcoat, typically referred to as the TBC. Bond coat materials widely used in TBC systems include oxidation-resistant overlay coatings such as MCrAlX (where M is iron, cobalt and/or nickel, and X is yttrium or another rare earth element), and oxidation-resistant diffusion coatings such as diffusion aluminides that contain nickel-aluminum (NiAi) intermetallics.
Ceramic materials and particularly binary yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) are widely used as TBC materials because of their high temperature capability, low thermal conductivity, and relative ease of deposition by plasma spraying, flame spraying and physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques. In plasma spraying processes, the coating material is typically in the form of a powder that is melted by a plasma as it leaves a spray gun. As a result, a plasma-sprayed TBC is formed by a buildup of molten “splats” and has a microstructure characterized by irregular flattened grains and a degree of inhomogeneity and porosity. TBC's employed in the highest temperature regions of gas turbine engines are often deposited by electron beam physical vapor deposition (EBPVD), which yields a columnar, strain-tolerant grain structure that is able to expand and contract without causing damaging stresses that lead to spallation. Similar columnar microstructures can be produced using other atomic and molecular vapor processes, such as sputtering (e.g., high and low pressure, standard or collimated plume), ion plasma deposition, and all forms of melting and evaporation deposition processes (e.g., cathodic arc, laser melting, etc.).
In order for a TBC to remain effective throughout the planned life cycle of the component it protects, it is important that the TBC has and maintains a low thermal conductivity throughout the life of the component, including during high temperature excursions. However, the thermal conductivities of TBC materials such as YSZ are known to increase over time when subjected to the operating environment of a gas turbine engine. As a result, TBC's for gas turbine engine components are often deposited to a greater thickness than would otherwise be necessary. Alternatively, internally cooled components such as blades and nozzles must be designed to have higher cooling flow. Both of these solutions are undesirable for reasons relating to cost, component life and engine efficiency. As a result, it can be appreciated that further improvements in TBC technology are desirable, particularly as TBC's are employed to thermally insulate components intended for more demanding engine designs.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,906,895 to Hamada et al. discloses a method of inhibiting the deterioration of the thermal properties of a TBC by suppressing a reaction sintering mechanism said to occur in TBC's at high temperatures. In Hamada et al., a high temperature compound (such as a carbide, nitride or another high temperature material) is said to be compounded into a YSZ TBC deposited by a plasma spraying process. According to three plasma spraying techniques disclosed by Hamada et al., the high temperature compound appears to be present as splats dispersed within the TBC as a result of the plasma spraying process. According to a fourth technique disclosed by Hamada et al., a plasma-sprayed TBC is infiltrated with a feed gas of the high temperature compound, apparently forming a coating of the compound on the inter-splat boundaries of the porous TBC. Following this treatment, any remaining feed gas would inherently escape the TBC through the same passages that allowed the gas to infiltrate the TBC. With each approach, the high temperature compound is said to suppress reaction sintering of the YSZ TBC by some unexplained mechanism.
In commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,492,038 to Rigney et al., a more thermally-stable TBC is achieved by inhibiting grain growth (coarsening), sintering, and pore redistribution (the coalescence or coarsening of smaller pores to form larger pores) during high temperature excursions. According to Rigney et al., resistance to heat transfer through a TBC is determined in part by the amount of microstructural defects within the grains of the TBC. Rigney et al. teach that such defects can be created by composition-induced defect reactions and process-induced porosity, the former of which includes vacancies that result from the need in ionic solids to maintain charge neutrality, as is the case in YSZ where substitution of zirconia (ZrO2) with yttria (Y2O3) in the lattice yields a vacancy. On the other hand, process-induced porosity includes pore formation that occurs during coating as a component is rotated relative to the deposition source. A primary example is the “sunrise-sunset” vapor-surface mechanisms that occur during rotation of a component during deposition of TBC from a vapor cloud, such as by PVD, the result of which is a textured growth of the deposit in which pores are formed between columns, within the columns, and between secondary growth arms contained within the columns.
Rigney et al. teach a technique by which process-induced porosity in a TBC is preserved by incorporating extremely fine precipitates into the TBC microstructure. More particularly, Rigney et al. teach that limited amounts of extremely fine carbide and/or nitride precipitates formed at the defects, pores and grain boundaries of the TBC microstructure serve to pin the TBC grain boundaries to inhibit sintering, grain coarsening and pore redistribution during high temperature excursions, with the effect that the microstructure, and consequently the thermal conductivity of the TBC, is stabilized. Rigney et al. teach that suitable carbiding/nitriding techniques include depositing the TBC using a physical vapor deposition technique in an atmosphere that contains carbon and/or nitrogen vapors, gases or compounds, and/or heat treating in the presence of a gas containing carbon and/or nitrogen gases or compounds. Contrary to Hamada et al., the carbide/nitride precipitates must be incorporated as extremely fine precipitates in order to pin the TBC grain boundaries.
While the incorporation of carbide/nitride precipitates in accordance with Rigney et al. makes possible a more stabilized TBC microstructures, further improvements in TBC microstructure and processes would be desirable to promote thermal stability, which would allow for the use of thinner TBC and/or, where applicable, lower cooling air flow rates, thereby reducing processing and material costs and promoting component life and engine efficiency.